It's Only Sunshine
by moonswirl
Summary: GLEEKATHON, DAY THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE!:  PREQUEL TO #100  Quinn is starting to understand the dormant Sunshine Girl in her...


Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 17th cycle. Now cycle 18!

**YEAR ONE ANNIVERSARY CYCLE!** - TODAY IT HAS been one year since I've started this Gleekathon, and I had a thought that I should do something special for it. So this is what I did: Selecting from the start of it all to the end of august (well, I had to plan! ;)), I picked my 21 favorite one shots. A number of those I was very attached to, but left sad to see may have fallen through the cracks, so it seems fair they should be recognized.

The 21 stories were split in three categories: **POV swap - Prequel - Sequel**... I think that goes without saying ;) In no particular order... **Today's story** is a Prequel to #100 "Let the Sunshine In" a Rachel & Quinn Sunshine Girls story originally posted January 29th 2010.

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**See below for some... mm... many words of thanks! ;) (What, I was in a talking mood! :D)**

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**"It's Only Sunshine"  
Quinn & Rachel  
Sunshine Girls #18 **

She was starting to see it now, with all those memories spinning in her mind. It was like looking back through the years with a brand new cheat sheet into her mind. She'd never breathe a word of it to anyone; she'd be perfectly fine keeping it to herself, no matter how much of an enigma it all was to her.

But now she was convinced, as convinced as one could be. She honestly didn't consciously remember anything about these Sunshine Girls before that day… The keyword here was 'consciously.' As far as she was concerned, it stood to reason that, if she could remember, then the memories had always been there within her mind… play things for the unconscious. They were in there like prisoners, planning a prison break… a few coming close to, over the years.

She might call them random acts of kindness; as much as she didn't let Rachel realize what they were… she barely let herself be aware of it… After all, she was the prison that held them in.

She vaguely remembered, them being twelve and… Rachel had a new shirt, and she seemed happy… That happiness would be crushed if what Quinn saw coming was allowed to pass. There was Puck, striding down the hall with a Slushie and a smirk… Target acquired. Quinn looked back ahead, to Rachel at her locker, and she felt a chill.

Now she knew what that chill was. It was her grandmother's half-birthday gift to her, since all holidays had seemed too close to her birthday all her life. The shirt was handmade, and it was tradition… She loved those… And this new one was about to get a Slushie makeover, which would not go over well.

She didn't recall all of this at the time, of course, and yet… The decision was made without too much time to reflect. Her foot was extended, she braced herself, and then with a loud thud and a splash down came Puck and the purple Slushie. People around it were startled and tried too late to get out of the splash zone. Puck looked over his shoulder to see who'd tripped him. She played the best of innocent faces and moved along, just as Vice-Principal Lang came to drag Puck to his office. Quinn felt really good the rest of that day.

Little moments like this one were just popping in her head more and more, only now unexplained actions were very, very explained. It was like she had a backseat driver trying to grab the wheel every now and then. Now she knew that 'backseat driver' was a five-year-old in a blue tutu, gloves, and a tiara, with a glass turtle as co-pilot. Which made her wonder…

Did Rachel act as jailer to a co-pilot in a red tutu, cape and tap shoes? Where Quinn was remembering so much, Rachel was still drawing a blank… If she was in the same place as she was with her unknown acts, then why didn't she remember? She couldn't be blocking it out; if either of them could do that, it'd be Quinn… the break had not been her doing, after all. Maybe Co-Pilot Beams was busy putting on a show in the prison… play room… Okay, now her analogy was weirding her out. She shrugged and carried along, just as she saw Rachel run into a classroom… Quinn frowned.

What did it even mean? She had never thought of Rachel Berry in any way but as someone she couldn't stand or someone she enjoyed making fun of. Recently, of course, that standing had been challenged, taken some hits. With her situation, Quinn wasn't in any position to refuse a hand extended in help, though she certainly tried her best when that hand was Rachel's. If her general dislike of her wasn't enough, now she had the fact that she was making goo-goo eyes at her boyfriend… But her resistance to it wasn't as strong as she might have tried to make it. Now she was just picturing tiny little Rays bouncing around in her head and trying to make her let Rachel back in now that there was an 'in' forming.

For all this secret plotting going on in the hidden corners of her mind, one little fact seemed to escape it and that was the break… because ever since she'd started to remember, ever since that one recollection of the fight over Sunny's breaking had come back to her, all that bitterness and little-girl-logic anger was seeping out. If she returned to her previous idea of jail, that secret now appeared as the warden… keeping all the mischievous memories of happy little Sunshine Girls within the walls.

There were too many things coming at her at the same time to let her even consider trusting Rachel with more knowledge, or any kind of friendship. It was like the unholy alliance of past, present, and hormones. There was the hurt of her loss from long ago, and the boyfriend drama of nowadays, and pregnancy hormones playing conspiracy nutjob, running between the two. She knew Rachel wouldn't get it, so she preferred to keep quiet as much as possible.

She was just leaving her locker, now wanting to grab something from the vending machines before next class, hoping to kick Rachel and the Sunshine Girls out of her mind for a while, when…

"Ow!" She stopped, sighing to herself… No such luck. She followed Rachel's voice, which she'd recognized, into the class she'd seen her run into.

"Rachel?" she called, and there the brunette popped up from behind a desk. Quinn sighed. She'd never get away, would she? "What are you doing?"

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**

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_It doesn't even seem real, that I've been doing this for a whole year. I still remember when I was planning the first cycle of this, back when it was going to be just that: three weeks, twenty-one stories in that many days to hold us over during the three-week hiatus… the stories were not even numbered, they had a letter… It seemed just crazy to plan out twenty-one stories at once and actually write them, only then the hiatus started to draw to a close… and I liked doing the stories so much I just thought… well what if I keep going, I wonder how long I can keep it up, one story, every day…_

_That's when the craziness really started. One cycle, that would have been easy… that right there should have been my first clue I wouldn't stop there ;) Going into that second cycle I wasn't sure if I could manage it, but then little by little I just kept going. I started to do sets, like the mix-mash pairings (Rachel & Ken! Figgins & Brittany!), and the Twelve Days of Gleekmas… and of course there's the series, the Sunshine Girls, that's the first one, the flagship, really… You can tell, 'cause it gets all the important numbers (when I can help it). Then more series (The Sylvesters, Kurt & Victor, Matt & Sasha), sets (Colors, Valentines, ABCs, Murder Mystery Dinner, Teams, Dare songs…) and even a few multi-chapter stories (Welcome Back, The Encyclopedia Brittanyca, The Shine in Sunshine, Me & My Shadow, No Evil…). I kept going through the episodes' run 'cause well why would I stop and break my streak, but I really wanted to keep things going especially during the longer breaks (December to April, madness! Summer, oh no!) because Glee withdrawal can be a bitch ;)_

It hasn't been easy to keep this up, not even a little… Not even bringing up the fact that I'm a full time university student, some days it's been harder than others to get things locked in. A lot of times that was because I had to be a good girl and do my work, study, etc, so I didn't get to start writing 'til very late, and well unless I'm reeeeally feeling inspired that night, I usually won't finish the story that night and I'll have to finish it the next day, the day it's due to go up. Nothing I hate more than having to write against the clock, 'cause I don't want the story to go up too late in the day and all, and then the longer that makes things, the later the story goes up, after that I need to start again, with the next day's story. You would not believe how I happy I get when I beat that dang cycle of same-day completions… At the same time I do get very self-conscious, doubting myself now and again… I can't help it, that's who I am. I don't hear from people and I start wondering if any of it really matters to anyone.

But then that's where you guys come in. It wouldn't feel right to say that 'it goes without saying' that I'm thankful, because it SHOULD be said. Some days, I promise you, when that bell pings and I see new mail and there's a review or comment, and I see the kind words you've left me, it makes all the difference in the world. I wouldn't go so far as to say, like Rachel, that 'I need applause to live,' but they sure don't hurt :D Suddenly I know you're out there, and it's like a well placed little mind boost! And it's not just about comments. I've met some really great people in the process of doing all this, made some friends… It's been such an incredible year, challenging but rewarding all the same. It's become a part of my day to day life, one I intend, as always, to keep going as long as my mind will allow :) (And I assure you ideas are still flowing freely!)

I would love to hear from you guys, if you're reading this! Like I said, it's been an experience, and you guys have been a part of it, so if there's anything you'd like to say… :)

Take care!  
Your friendly neighborhood gleekathon mistress ;)  
_Mooners_**_  
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